David Schilling and Paul Baxter may be separated by 42 years of age, but they do have a few things in common.
They’re gym buddies, regulars at nDurance Fitness in Destrehan. They share a love of power lifting. They’re both extremely competitive.
And they’re both champions.
Schilling and Baxter each captured top honors at the IPL World Championship in Eugene, Ore., with Schilling taking the championship in the event’s Masters division (ages 65 to 69) and Baxter top honors for ages 20 to 23. That collective performance followed the two earning national championship honors, and Baxter and Schilling have each won and set records at several local competitions.
The two men became friends over lifting together at nDurance. Interestingly enough, the younger man – Baxter – has had a much longer tenure as a lifter. He’s lifted since age 12, while Schilling took up the interest in 2020. Schilling, however, was the one to enter the world of competitive lifting first, and he sparked Baxter’s interest in doing so.
“It felt great, it really did,” said Schilling of the two’s championship victories in Eugene. “It was mission accomplished, what we worked toward. We push one another. We follow our program and stick to it, and we don’t make excuses to not go to the gym.”
Brandi LeBlanc, owner of nDurance Fitness, called the two “superstars” at the gym.
“They motivated our first female power lifting competitor, Vicki Hendricks,” said LeBlanc. “A lot of the younger and older folks alike look up to those three. We’re super proud of them and proud to have them here in our hometown.”
Schilling, a veteran of the Air Force, said he took up the sport as a way to get healthy.
“I found out that, over the age of 50, you could gain muscle and gain strength,” Schilling said. “It just took off from there.”
After a few months, he realized he might have reason to invest himself even more into lifting – upon competing in his first contest, he set a number of state records in his age division.
“That really motivated me to push forward,” Schilling said.
Once Baxter entered the competitive fray, he too set record high marks.
“(Schilling) came up to me and said hey, you’re pretty strong, you should think about competing,” Baxter said. “At first I said, ‘I’m not that good right now,’ but he said nah, come do it and you’ll do pretty good, and that’s how I got into it.”
Baxter started lifting overall at age 12 with dumbbells and moved up to larger weights as he progressed.
“I always followed powerlifters on YouTube and thought I’m going to do that,” Baxter said. “I was just waiting to see when I’d take that opportunity.
“It’s a very good stress reliever … if you’re having a bad day, there’s just something about pushing your body and getting that blood rush.”
They sharpen one another’s skills.
“When we’re not working out with each other, we say it’s not the same. We perform a lot better together, when we’re motivating each other,” Baxter said. “I guess with your workout partner there, you feel more determined to do better. When you’re by yourself, you tend to slack off.”
Schilling agreed.
“We push one another,” Schilling said. “We put in a lot of hard work – we’re in there five days a week.”
Schilling said he’s not quite sure what led to his fast success.
“I’ve always been in the gym on and off throughout my life,” he said. “I can’t even really remember what my initial thoughts were. I started looking at power lifting meets and just decided to do it. I’ve been steady with it for four years now.”
Once he’s in competition, the motivation to push himself to more comes quite easy, on stage and in front of judges and a crowd of onlookers.
Likewise, the support of their fellow gym-goers spurs the two of them forward, said Schilling.
“The gym had damage after Hurricane Ida, and with Paul and I competing, Brandi ordered a powerlifting platform for us,” Schilling said. “I mean, they really support us. Everyone there is so encouraging.”
The two will be competing later this year in Las Vegas at another World Championship event.
“I think it’ll be even better this time,” Baxter said.
